oguntoyinbo-nigeria-should-seize-the-chance-to-clean-157694.html

Oguntoyinbo: Nigeria should seize the chance to clean house

Lekan Oguntoyinbo, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST

'What do you have in your bags?" bellowed the customs officer at Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Dressed in plain clothes, he seemed a jovial fellow. It was Dec. 26, 1999. I was checking luggage in Lagos, Nigeria, before boarding a flight to Detroit via Amsterdam.

I ticked off my list: clothing, books, toiletries, wood carvings and dried foodstuff. And a rusty sword that I had purchased as a souvenir from a street vendor in Lagos.

"Would you like to see it?" I asked.

"Oh, no," the official replied in mock horror. "I don't like weapons. But where is my Christmas present?"

Since the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day, many have asked how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian student whose father flagged his radicalization to U.S. authorities, was able to get highly explosive material through airport security checkpoints and even on board a plane in Lagos. It might be a while before U.S. and Nigerian investigators present concrete responses to apparent security flaws. But some things are already clear.

The problems at Nigeria's largest airport are symptomatic of issues plaguing the West African country. Once one of Africa's greatest hopes, Nigeria, a nation about the size of Arizona, California and Nevada combined, has become an embarrassment, a lawless country run by plutocrats. Nigeria has all the makings of a failed state: Less than half of its 148 million people have access to running water, the World Health Organization and UNICEF's Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation have reported. Electricity is sporadic. The K-12 and public university systems are frequently beset by strikes. Roads are poor, often unpaved and unpassable. Crime is the order of the day. Nigerian police officers don't protect and serve; their uniforms allow them to exploit, extort and oppress. If victims are not from Nigeria's small protected class, they are sometimes murdered. Borders with neighbors such as Niger, which is known to host al Qaeda cells, are notoriously porous.

In 1996 and 1997, Berlin-based Transparency International ranked Nigeria the world's most corrupt country. When Nigeria came in second behind Cameroon in 1998, some joked that Nigerians had bribed the Cameroonians.

Officially, Nigeria is a democratic federal republic. Since adopting a U.S.-style government in 1999, the civilian administration has made some efforts to attack corruption in the private and public sectors. But there is a growing feeling that the war on corruption is highly selective. It is still widely understood that certain politicians, business executives, and current and former high-ranking civil servants and military officers and their families are above the law. And elites are not subjected to the "indignity" of airport screenings.

Two decades ago, Murtala Muhammed International earned a reputation as a home to criminals who sometimes attacked planes as they taxied down runways. Robbers roamed the terminals and parking lot looking for prey. Even immigration and customs officers harassed passengers for bribes, sometimes threatening new arrivals with deportation or confiscation of their goods. From the mid-1990s to 2000, direct passenger flights between the U.S. and Nigeria were banned because of the Nigerian government's failure to curb drug traffic.

To be sure, Nigeria has made improvements. In the airports, non-passengers' entry to terminals is restricted and runways are more closely monitored. But a commentator noted Sunday in the Nigerian national daily newspaper the Guardian that lax security at airports still raises concerns. Airport personnel still sometimes extort passengers. And many elites and their guests are escorted to planes without being required to pass through metal detectors.

In recent days Nigerians around the world have expressed concern about the failed bombing. "Mutallab: Man Who Shamed Nigeria" blared one headline in a Nigerian daily. "Mutallab: The Nigerian Agent of Al-Qaeda" read another. For many of the estimated 1 million Nigerians living in the U.S., a number of whom are enterprising and highly skilled workers, the incident tarnishes an image already soiled by a reputation for narcotics smuggling and Internet fraud. Nigerians at home have expressed worries about visa opportunities being restricted.

I, however, am not among those fearing the repercussions of this incident. I dare to dream that a reassessment of security at Nigeria's airports could lead to a broader discussion about security in my home country. Maybe that security discussion could beget a push to transform Nigeria into a true democracy, where each man and woman is equal and subject to the same rules — even at the airport.

Sunday Alamba/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge Photo

A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who claimed to be acting on orders from al Qaeda, set off an explosive device on a Christmas Day flight in a failed terrorist attack on the plane as it was landing in Detroit, U.S. officials said. The suspect reportedly boarded at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, and went through Amsterdam en route to the U.S.

Oguntoyinbo is a freelance journalist and an assistant professor of journalism at Lincoln University in

Jefferson City, Mo.

image001.jpg

Daniel Nomishan

unread,

Jan 5, 2010, 12:12:53 AM1/5/10

to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Need to "Clean House"

Most of us know that there are many things that need to be fixed as a process of rebranding Nigeria. I agree that there is need to "clean house." It is sad to learn that there is such laxity at Nigerian airpports that some "highly-placed" individuals may be "escorted to airplanes" and not go through all the security checks, as this article claims! This needs to change. However, including Nigeria as one of the fourteen countries whose nationals traveling to the USA have to be scrutinized more at airports is wrong. There must be more evidence that Nigeria is a training ground for terrorists or that Nigeria condones terrorism that we do not know about. If Nigeria is included because a Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdultallab, is suspected of planning to blow up an airline bound for Detroit, USA, more countries whose nationals had attempted terrorist acts against the USA should be included on the list.

Daniel Nomishan

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of K. Gozie Ifesinachukwu [kgi...@austin.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 11:57 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Oguntoyinbo: Nigeria should seize the chance to clean house

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsub...@googlegroups.com

Tony Agbali

unread,

Jan 5, 2010, 2:23:49 PM1/5/10

to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Mr. Oguntoyinbo, my friend has tried to point to the Nigerian problem. However, I do not know when last Mr. Oguntoyinbo was in Nigeria. But I was in last May 2009, and it was no fun moving past the checking-in at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. One's luggage was thoroughly checked and one had to pass through the scanning procedure almost twice after check-in before reaching the boarding waiting lounge area. Overall, I do not subscribe to or agree with the totality of Oguntoyinbo suppositions, though he obviously make some good points. Our government has failed us.

If it is true that this Nigerian terrorist was just in Nigeria for few minutes (about half) an hour we are told, before boarding the plane to Amsterdam onward to Detroit, except if there is more smoking gun that we already know, then it is unfair to have Nigeria on that list of 14 'despised fly-from nations'.

This incident just offers an opportunity to clamp on Nigeria because as we have been told the Nigerian government seems to be giving the Obama administration more American nightmarish experience relative to its African foreign policy.

Further, who knows the transparent lies that some of the Nigerian officials have told their investigating agents. A country whose government agents look at its people from whom they derive their sovereignty and boldly lies to them on a daily basis, maybe cannot be trusted by other nations, who knows that if our government can lie so boldly without blinking to its citizens- from the health of its president even to falsely interpreting or misrepresenting her own constitution, then they can lie even more to any person.

Else (no offense to any Ghanaian), the son of a gun was in Ghana for about two weeks, he was in Nigeria for just 27 minutes, we now, know, but it is the Nigeria that is on that despicable list. The Americans could have used this opportunity but the outcome is something we have done to ourselves- our lies is catching up with us.

--- On Mon, 1/4/10, Daniel Nomishan <dnom...@fsc.edu> wrote:

Reply all

Reply to author

Forward